Over the years many Marathi artistes with their stage background have been able to display their acting skills through popular Hindi serials, thus reaching the viewers worldwide. Some names that come to our mind are Sulbha Deshpande, Ashok Saraf, Bharati Achrekar, Neena Kulkarni, Usha Nadkarni, Reema Lagoo, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Bhargavi Chirmule and many others who grabbed prominent roles in Hindi TV serials, besides also making it big in the Hindi film industry. But, have you noticed majority of Marathi artistes in one Hindi TV serial that too in a big budget period drama ?

We are talking about the ongoing popular Hindi TV serial ‘Punyashlok Ahilyabai’ a biographical period drama on the life of Ahilyabai Holkar the great female Sardar of the Maratha empire in Central India. This historical serial is being aired on Sony Television from Mon to Fri @ 7.30 pm. The serial has already completed 100 episodes successfully, with best screenplay supported by excellent performances by the artistes, majority of whom are from our Marathi stage, television and film industry.

The lead character of Malharrao Holkar is played by Rajesh Shringarpure known for his rich graceful voice in Marathi film industry followed by Aditi Jaltare who played Little Ahilya. And now, the grown up Ahilyabai is played by Aetasha Sansgiri, whom we earlier saw in few Marathi serials for the past three years, including ‘Chhoti Malkin’ in title role and ‘Dakkhancha Raja Jyotiba’ in which she played the key role of Yamai.

Snehalata Vasaikar who was seen playing an important character of Soyarabai in historical Marathi serial ‘Swarajyarakshak Sambhaji’ is now playing the key role of Gautamabai, Mother in law of ‘Ahilyabai’ . You will also notice Sukhada Khandkekar in a prominent role of Dwarkabai. Sukhada has performed earlier on Marathi stage and few Marathi serials besides playing the role of Anubai in popular 2015 Hindi film ‘Bajirao Mastani’.

There are many more Marathi artistes playing important roles in this serial like Varada Patil as Sitabai, Sameer Deshpande as Mankoji Shinde, Sanika Gadgil as Harkubai, Bhagyashree Nahvale as Banabai, Sulakshana Joglekar as Susheelabai, Abhay Harpale as Gangoba and so on. And all of them have grabbed the attention of worldwide viewers with their superb performances. Thanks to Producers Nitin Vaidya and Ninad Vaidya and director Jackson Sethi for offering this wonderful creation . A must watch historical serial for all.